Alabama faculty against playing in Fiesta Bowl COLLEGE FOOTBALL

November 22, 1990

Alabama's faculty senate, citing the failure of Arizona voters to approve a holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., urged the school's football team not to play in the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl if asked. University President Roger Sayers said it would be premature for him to take a stand on the Fiesta Bowl controversy.

"We have other constituencies we have to consider, including the football team, the coaches and the Southeastern Conference," he said. "And besides, I'm an incurable optimist, and I still want to go to the Sugar Bowl."

An invitation to play in the Jan. 1 bowl game in Tempe, Ariz., is VTC by no means a certainty. Alabama would have to beat Auburn on Dec. 1 while the other pieces in a complicated puzzle involving four SEC teams and three other bowls would have to fall into place.

* OREGON STATE: Dave Kragthorpe is out as head football coach. Kragthorpe finished the 1990 football season 1-10 and has an overall record of 17-48-2 with the Beavers.

* TEXAS TECH: Coach Spike Dykes, who suffered his worst season this year at 4-7, was given a 10-year contract extension. Athletic department officials said the entire deal was worth more than $1 million. Dykes, 52, is 24-21-1 in four years. He was named Southwest Conference Coach of the Year in 1989 after guiding his team to a 9-3 mark